So, there’s this guy at the youth project where I help run a community studio. He’s kinda cool, in an enthusiastic teenager kind of way.

Anyhow he sent me the following message yesterday:

Always up for a project, I’ve decided to set him a photo challenge every week for the next 6 months, and will be setting each challenge right here on this blog. So over the next 26 weeks there will be 26 challenges set.

If you’re doing a Duke of Edinburgh Award in Photography, this could be a springboard for you - I’m in no way affiliated with them, and might not cover everything you’re supposed to, but I’ll try. Or if you’re just keen to try things out, and challenge yourself, feel free to join in!

Along with each challenge, I’ll be asking 3 questions - In most cases there will be no right or wrong answer to these questions, but instead they are there to encourage reflection. I’m a big believer in continuous learning through reflective practice, so you should get a lot out of considering each question, and writing down an answer - by writing your answer down, it also means you’ll be able to revisit your answer in years to come and be reminded of what you learnt, or horrified by how wrong you were.

I’d greatly encourage you to upload your work to social media - it’s a great way to get instant feedback. If you upload the photos from any challenge, please use the hashtag #everyshotmatters and I’ll try to get around to commenting on them all.

Likewise, if you want to send your work through to me I’ll try to get back with a response, but that’ll greatly depend on how many I receive and how busy I am that particular week. My email is hello@awonderfulkindofimpossible.co.uk

Here goes:

Challenge #1:

Document a day in the life of YOU. Do your normal day, but take at least 20 photos of your normal life. The more photos you take, the better.

Cartier-Bresson said “Your first 10,000 photos are your worst.” Hurn said “Most people spend eight hours a day working. If you want to work as a photographer, spend eight hours a day taking photos.”

This challenge is about getting you used to taking a lot of photos, and to encourage you to fall in love with the process as much as the results. It will also help you to find your unique voice in photography.

Dropping the kids off at school.

Getting a takeaway coffee on my way to work.

Walking up the stairs to my office, behind some colleagues.

Questions:

What photo from the day could only have been taken by you? What is unique to your lifestyle?

How comfortable did you feel documenting a normal day? What emotions did you feel?

Have you captured the mundane in an interesting, creative way? What would you do differently were you to do this challenge again?